Not Quite Fixed
by brokenroots
Summary: Tuesday night. The restaurant. The aftermath.


**Not Quite Fixed**  
><strong>Word Count<strong>: 1,475  
><strong>Rating<strong>: PG-13  
><strong>Pairing<strong>: Nico/Dani (friendship); reference to Matt/Dani  
><strong>Spoilers:<strong> up to 1x11.  
><strong>Disclaimer<strong>: I don't own anything. I just break things.  
><strong>Summary:<strong> Tuesday night. The restaurant. The aftermath.  
><strong>Author's Note<strong>: I had several reactions to the finale, and it took a while to narrow down which one of them ended up as the Tuesday night piece. This, finally, became it. Look for other ones... in longer fics. :P

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><p><strong>Not Quite Fixed<strong>

"I'll take your coat, Mr. Careles," Marcie said, and Dani looked over at the hostess stand. Nico slipped out of his coat and handed it to her. "I heard about TK. Is he going to be all right?"

"He should recover," Nico answered, following Marcie over to the table where Dani sat. He looked at her. She knew he hadn't expected her to be here—just like she hadn't thought that he would be, either. He sat down without saying anything.

"Anything to drink? The usual?"

Nico nodded, and Marcie headed off to get him the drink. Dani looked at him. "So... your waitress knows you work for the Hawks?"

"I have been coming here for a long time, and Marcie is not just the hostess or the waitress. Her parents own this restaurant," Nico explained. Dani looked at him. "You didn't believe that I came here often, as I had claimed. You had to see for yourself. You still doubt her sincerity?"

Dani wished her wine was here already. "It's not that. I just... didn't think, even with you supposedly handling a violent customer for her, that you would have told her what you did."

"Supposedly handled?" Nico asked with a frown. "I thought I told you. I don't lie."

"Do you know the owners?"

Nico waited for Marcie to set down their glasses—water for him and wine for Dani—in front of them. He took a drink and handed over his menu. "The special for me. Are you eating, Dr. Santino?"

"Uh... the special for me, too," Dani said, passing her menu over. She hoped that she could trust Nico's judgment there and that whatever he'd just ordered was something she could actually eat. Not that she was hungry. She didn't have much of an appetite lately—not since TK got shot—and she was surprised that Nico did. Then again, she'd been surprised to see him eat the first time they'd had one of these meetings.

"Be right out," Marcie promised. She left, taking the menus up front and disappearing into the back room.

Dani frowned. "Does your order go straight to the kitchen or something? Every time?"

Nico shrugged. "Are you going to pick apart every action she makes? Is this because of Terrence or Donnally?"

She let out a breath. "TK's shooting has everyone on edge. You should know. You've brought me several players—all worried about it happening to them now—and a few of your security staff that seem to feel that the shooting was their fault even though they're not part of TK's detail and never have been."

"That is why they're seeing you," Nico agreed, reaching for his water. "Is it too much? I can send them to another doctor if you'd like to refer someone?"

She shook her head. "No, it's fine. I can handle it. It lets me feel like I'm actively doing something for TK. I've spent hours at his side, talking to him, but I can't help him. I'm not that kind of doctor."

"He could be hearing you. That could make all the difference."

Dani nodded. "Maybe. What about you? I swear—hardly anyone has seen you since TK got shot. Do I _want _to know what you did to the man who shot TK?"

Nico's look told her all she needed to know. On the one hand, she was relieved. On the other... She reached across the table and touched Nico's hand. "When you came to my house, you said you hadn't killed anyone lately. Is that still true?"

"The man was apprehended before he could leave the club. Whatever happened to him after that point was done in police custody."

"You mean someone looked the other way?" Dani asked. Then she understood. "No. You did something to him after he made bail."

"I have never actually laid a hand on the man."

"Did you order anyone to?"

"Did you sleep with Donnally?"

"No," Dani choked on her wine. "Wait. Excuse me?"

Nico fixed her with a pointed glare, pulling his hand away from hers. "Your line of questioning was equally as inappropriate. Whatever my feelings toward the man who shot TK, whatever inclination toward harming him me or anyone on my staff might have had, he has been processed through legal channels. Why is it you seem determined to believe otherwise?"

"Something in that look when I asked you about what you did—"

"Perhaps an expression more of what I _could _have done than what I actually did," Nico said, shaking his head. "I have no desire to fight with you. It has been a long week for everyone, and it might be better if we ended this dinner before that happens."

She shook her head. Their last dinner had ended badly, too, and that wasn't what she'd wanted at all. Nico was her friend. He'd trusted her with a secret that she didn't think anyone—other than Mrs. Pittman—knew. She didn't want to ruin that fragile trust with a fight, either. "Truce? I can't remember the last time I ate, and I bet it's the same for you."

Nico frowned, and she knew she had him. "You don't remember the last time you ate, do you? Was it before TK got shot?"

"You just pointed out that I don't remember," he said. "Honestly... I don't. I've been in the middle of a complete review of all the security procedures and staff, trying to prevent any future lapses like this. No one should have been able to get that close to one of our players with a gun."

"Are you going to make everyone carry portable scanners, sweep everyone everywhere for guns?" Dani demanded. "Nico, I am aware that you tend toward... paranoia, but I really don't know how you could have prevented this. You can't be everywhere, and you couldn't have know how that fan would react to losing the game."

"It's not so much about me being everywhere. It is about making sure that when I am not there, everyone is as protected as they can be. This incident shows a clear gap in my security that was exploited, and I will fix it."

Dani sighed. "Nico—"

"I have responsibilities," he insisted. "My... personal issues interfered with them, creating the gap in security that lead to this incident. That will _never _happen again."

"You said you couldn't compromise yourself. You've already ensured that it won't."

"You have more faith than I do," Nico said quietly.

Dani was about to respond to that when Marcie returned with their food. She set the plates on the table and stepped back. "How's it look? Anything you need?"

"A to-go box," Dani said, taking in the size of her plate. Marcie looked at her. Dani smiled at her. "It's just that I know I can't eat all of this. Otherwise, it looks great, and I'm fine, thank you."

"And you, Mr. Careles?"

Nico picked up his fork. "Everything looks fine. Thank you."

"No, thank you," she said. "I passed my finals, so..."

Dani watched as Marcie leaned over and kissed his cheek. She flushed red and hurried away. Dani was torn, fighting laughter and shock as she watched Nico frown. "Okay, explain that one. What did you do?"

Nico shook his head. "I have no idea. No, I suppose there was... something. A few weeks back, there was a wait at the door, nearly an hour. I was going to leave. Someone made a comment about Marcie's intelligence. I countered by asking her about her current class load, there was some discussion of the difference between certain philosophies—I'll spare you the details—and she said I made them make sense for the first time. If that somehow assisted her with her finals... It was completely unintentional."

"You're just a big softie, aren't you?" Dani teased, and Nico shot her a dirty look. "Don't think I'll forget what I saw."

"I would never expect that, Doctor Santino."

"You didn't answer my question. You _do _know the owners, don't you?"

"Given my paranoia, as you noted earlier, would you really believe that I would follow any kind of routine?" Nico asked, and she frowned at him. After all this, _now _he was going to tell her it was a lie? "Not without verifying the location and scouting the staff. That would be foolish."

"So... you're saying... you do know the owners?"

He gave her one of those half-smiles of his. "You should eat, though. Your food's getting cold."


End file.
